The Weekly Scoop Slam! by Philip McKane
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On December 6th 2004, WWE Monday Night RAW presented a Main Event of Trish Stratus vs. Lita for the WWE Women’s Championship. This match had an exciting build up, a relevant title change and two very talented in-ring performers who had a lot of chemistry together. However, on the most recent edition of RAW, the women’s match we received was a Six Diva Battle Royal with six random divas fighting to be Number One contender for a championship that truly means nothing. This to me prompts the question, what has happened to the state of women’s wrestling?
The Women’s division has never been the focus of the WWE and it probably never will be. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. But does that give them the excuse to book the division so carelessly with no direction or long term goal? Definitely not. I for one have always been a big supporter of women’s wrestling. I respect any woman who can master what is generally considered a ‘man’s craft’. But how can we have any shred of respect for these models that Vince McMahon is trying to present to us as wrestlers? And how can we respect a division that has been stuck in the same place for the past three or four years?
The big problem in my eyes is the lack of storylines and characters in the diva’s division. On SmackDown right now, Michelle McCool and Mickie James are currently feuding. Question is, why? Why do these two people not like each other so much? Why do they want to wrestle? What will this lead to? There is no answer to any of these questions because I don’t even think Vince McMahon knows. There is no direction for this feud and certainly no reason for it. This is merely a case of Heel vs. Face in a series of matches, maybe sometimes for the belt (which has certainly lost any value it once had). For anyone who thinks that diva feuds would not draw or interest viewers, I ask you to remember the Trish Stratus vs. Mickie James feud. This was quite possibly one of the greatest women’s rivalries I have ever seen. Their big encounter tore the house down at Wrestlemania 22 and it really gained a lot of support for Mickie James who had only been with the company a mere number of months. Everybody wins!
Of course, right now that would be impossible to recreate as we aren’t actually sure who any of the divas are. With the exception of one or two, none of the divas actually have a character or a personality. Raw’s recent battle royal may as well have been presented as Random Twins vs. Random Blonde vs. Random Girl #1 vs. Random Girl #2 vs. Random Girl #3, because that’s what the audience at Raw probably saw it as. An example of this is Gail Kim. Gail Kim is quite possibly one of the best female wrestlers in America today but do you know what is shocking? She hasn’t spoken a word on camera since she debuted in March. Not one word. How are we supposed to know who she is? Her gimmick is simply Gail Kim who wrestles.
The saddest thing about it all is there is actually so much potential for a solid women’s division in WWE. They have women like Gail Kim, Beth Phoenix, Katie Lea and Natalya, who is probably one of the best female wrestlers in the world. Of course you wouldn’t be able to tell this after seeing her in WWE. Gail Kim is currently doing nothing, Beth Phoenix is currently squashing nobodies and both Katie Lea and Natalya are managing. Why is this happening? Why are the likes of Alicia Fox, Kelly Kelly and The Bella Twins receiving more attention than the actual workers? It’s actually laughable.
So the question is, is there a light at the end of the tunnel? The answer is yes. It’s not WWE though, it’s TNA. TNA (who I would normally not give very much credit to) have actually built quite a credible women’s division. Each ‘knockout’ has a separate identity and personality to each other but most importantly, we get actual storylines. We have Taylor and Sarita feuding with The Beautiful People over the newly created tag titles where there is actual animosity and tension built up, as well as Kong vs. Tara which can only be described as a dream match that everyone wants to see. Is this so hard to achieve? No it’s basic television writing. It’s what the WWE creative team are paid to do, yet fail.
So if you want to see good women’s wrestling in the WWE, chances are you’re not going to anytime soon. As long as WWE keep hiring generic models to form their ‘Diva’s’ division, you’re going to see terrible matches with no storylines the same thing we’ve been seeing for years. The solution? Watch TNA’s women’s division.
